Messi deserves it. He scored over 50 goals and had over 20 assists last season. He's the main reason we even got to the semi-finals of the Champions League. If the other 10 players and the manager stepped up last season, he would have had another Champions League.
VvD had a great season and was a big reason why Liverpool won the Champions League. But if you look at what player is more important to their club.... it's Messi. Liverpool have a better manager and team overall. You can take VvD out of that Liverpool squad and they'll probably still win the league and go far in the Champions League. If you take Messi out of that Barcelona team, they're not winning the league and not even get past the last 16 in the Champions League.